Mobile phones are rapidly becoming an article for every day use. To accommodate this fact, manufacturers have reduced the size of such phones to make them easy to carry at all times. This has resulted in the mobile phone being subject to all of the hazards of the user""s work and play. Similar to a watch, the mobile phone must now be shock resistant to an ever increasing standard. This increased exposure has strained the warranty services of the manufacturers because the phones are damaged in ways not contemplated on normal warranty conditions. Since there are circumstances beyond which damage is not covered by warranty, an issue arises with respect to the determination of excessive force.
It is a purpose of this invention to provide a simple and inexpensive means of monitoring the shock to which a mobile phone is subjected.
The dynamic speaker provided as standard equipment on most mobile phones is used as a transducer to sense the shock experienced by the phone. Movement of the speaker core by an external force will produce a signal that is recorded in the memory of the phone. This can be accessed during service to determine if the phone was subjected to excessive force which may negate the warranty. The shock signal from the speaker is filtered and compared to a predetermined threshold. Therefore only the data relating to substantial force are recorded.